@TinoPup. Admittedly hard to tell apart, but the exhibit holds one each (spotted, ringed, and harbor)…the ringed seal I believe is most easily distinguished by the dark mask on its head and face as opposed to spots or “rings”.
@TinoPup that might be so. I posted what I thought was the harbor seal…maybe I misidentified that one? Again ultimately a went based on the face of the animal. The three ice seals here all seem to be very closely related species.
@Pleistohorse Hard to tell because of the water but I would guess the one you labeled as harbor to be the ringed, the upper one here to be spotted, and the lower one to be harbor. I'm certainly not an expert but I've spent a lot of time learning to try and tell apart spotted and harbor because of Mystic, and then the supposed ringed at SeaWorld. I'm most confident about the upper one here being spotted.
@TinoPup yep. Maybe so. In the wild here in Alaska you can pretty much count on geography to help identify your seal. Harbor Seals along the southern coasts, with Ringed and Spotted Seals distinct enough to distinguish them on the ice. I'm sure the biologist and Native People's are more skilled then I am in the end.
@Pleistohorse It's a little easier over here Harbors are the majority of the population, especially once you get to the mid-atlantic. Harp seals sometimes wander this far south in the winter, mostly confused sub-adults. Grey seals are more of a New England species but do come down here (and often need help). All 3 are pretty easy to tell apart.
Since 1975, the marine mammal stranding center (near Cape May) has rescued:
-637 harbor seals
-669 grey seals
-529 harp seals
-67 hooded seals
-2 ringed seals
-1 extremely lost California sea lion
@TinoPup a Sea Lion? Wow! The local sea mammal rescue orginization once rescued a Ribbon Seal on the mud flats of the Knik Arm just a few miles from my home. Pretty well out of its normal range. I never saw the seal, but I'd love to see one of those someday.
@Pleistohorse I tried looking into that sea lion more and apparently it was a Navy one that decided to go on an adventure, but I couldn't find more than that. A ribbon seal would be so cool!
